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Tuesday, August 30, 2011

I came back from vacation to find my order from Iwona Ludyga had arrived! I had ordered some rose gold skeleton jewelry and I love them! So dainty and tiny - LOVE!

Here are the skull earrings with my solemn pug staring at nothing in the background, and then a picture of one of my ears with the skull stud. See, isn't it tiny?! I don't think anyone will notice they're skulls at work unless they looked very closely (which is a good thing!).

I also got a rose gold tiny skull bracelet. So perfectly dainty! And somehow the skull almost always stays in position! I don't know how it does that - maybe it's the weight of the bracelet - with the skull on one side and the clasp and tag on the other? Because I have thick wrists I had to request that the chain be 7 inches instead of the 6.5 inches it typically comes in. I found that if you order from Iwona Ludyga directly, she is very accommodating with special requests such as sizing and different types of gold, but additional costs may apply for increased chain lengths.

Shhhhh! Don't speak!

Oh and that's Essie's Over the Top on my nails. I love that polish - one of my top five. But I now have to take it off before returning to work. Sigh.

On a random note, here's a picture of my not new, but very old, worn and well-loved MZ Wallace bag. It's the Olivia in light gray. I don't think this color and style combination is available at the stores anymore. I took this picture to show my friend how big the Olivia is. It's my favorite MZ Wallace style so far because it has a ton of exterior (and interior) pockets, and the strap fits much more comfortably over my shoulder than those stiff rounded handles. I need a new bag soon though and I'm contemplating getting an even bigger one. But until then, I love my tried and true Olivia. I tried an Elsa, which is a cute style that I loved at first but hated after suffering the inconvenience of no exterior pockets.

Despite my lil smug pug's best efforts to thwart my haphazard packing, I made it out to Arizona for a relaxing trip at a resort in the middle of nowhere (well relaxing until the traveling back). It was a 2 hour drive from Phoenix but I enjoyed it since I didn't have to drive and the sky was beautiful!

It was stinkin hot there. Well in the 100s, but dry heat which I find way more bearable, having grown up in the hot valley of southern California. But near the end of the trip my skin was begging for more moisture (I never thought that would happen!). Some photos of the resort, pool, cacti, and happy feet.

Unfortunately our travel plans back were derailed by "Hurricane" Irene even though the hurricane got downgraded to a tropical storm and our flight would have arrived late Sunday night when it should have already passed. So we ended up having to spend an extra night at a hotel close to the airport and then take a 5:30am flight back out. This involved a 3am wake up call and misery all around. Plus the day before with driving back and returning the rental car, everything that could go wrong, did. It sucked because those last two days kinda sucked out all the relaxation from the trip. And by the time we got back we were haggard, tired, and fighting off virulent colds/flus/plague (?!).

As if to taunt us, on our drive back from the airport, the sky looked like a beautiful painting (I'm guessing an aftereffect from Tropical Storm Irene). As though angels and little cherubic babies would come tumbling out of the sky to point and laugh at our fatigued and busted looking faces.

My lil pug was waiting with my mom outside and when she first saw me she froze and didn't react at all. It wasn't until I approached her and she sniffed me and knew for sure I was back and hadn't permanently abandoned her that she started to go ba-nah-nas. She panted furiously as she danced around my legs, trilling, yelping, and doing pugtona all over the place. It was awesome. What a great welcome home! But now she's lounging on my couch (she wasn't allowed on the furniture at my parents' house so I think she's really loving being back home) and spending some quiet alone time. I missed her so much!

I swear she isn't as fat as she looks here. She's slouching here and has a lot of excess belly skin from her past life as a dog used for breeding.

I always think my lil pug is the cutest pug ever but of course I realize I am biased. However, during this morning's walk a woman was following us and before I could get weirded out she asked in a pleading voice if she could pet my cute pug. My heart always goes out to pug sympathizers, but just at that moment my lil pug was in the middle of her running/spinning before her morning poop. I actually blurted out, "I'm sorry, but she's about to POO!" as I dashed to follow her. I felt bad for the pugless, pug-loving woman, but you can't disturb that routine. When they gotta go, they gotta go!

Sunday, August 14, 2011

(1) I am in love with those YSL lip balms from my previous post. They provide a little bit of shine (not anything too glossy), leave my lips moisturized and leave a tint of color for several hours. So while I still have to reapply during the day for the most part, if I don't have time or forget to reapply my lips are still soft with a tiny touch of color. I love all three colors and can't pick just one. Depends on my mood I guess.

(2) My lil pug still hates the koala hat but she endures it a bit better. She's able to take it off pretty quickly though when I turn away or leave the room. Yesterday she went to the groomers and had the whole kit and kaboodle done to her (nails, teeth, coat, and even her *ahem* nether regions). I then subjected her to the koala hat again. I know, I'm so mean. Here she is with her groomers' bandana and koala hat.

It was a long day for her and she got super sleepy.

So, so sleepy...

And then I took a picture with flash by accident. I know I'm super mean! I woke her up with the flash.

Now we're watching tv and I'm stuck because she's dozing on my lap and using my computer table as a chin rest.

Then I took pity on her and took the hat off. Darn. She's also able to take it off pretty easily by just rubbing her head on the ground. Sadness. I was hoping she wouldn't mind it because there are a ton of cute hats I wanted to get her! So I've now become one of those dog people. The ones that buy their dogs clothes and hats to make them look like other animals. Meh, I knew it would happen eventually.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

I picked up some YSL Volumpte Sheer Candy in Dewy Papaya, Succulent Pomegranate, and Mouthwatering Berry through a Sephora purchase. These are described as glossy balms and I'm a sucker for any fancy lip balm. I hate glosses and traditional lipsticks and so I'm always on the prowl for good lip treatments/balms with some color.

First off, the packaging is beautiful. I'm also a sucker for good packaging. I'm like Sephora's dream customer.

Even with the shiny metal cases, it doesn't show fingerprints too much. Also I love how the middle colored band is representative of the color of the balm. I hate it when I have multiple cases of something and you can't tell which is which from the outside.

These are really smooth and shiny. I mean look at that gleam! I was very sad to have to use them for the first time. I love that brand new look! From left to right we have pomegranate, berry and papaya.

But I did use them. Sigh. These are the same texture as a lip balm so very smooth and took a few rubbings to get this much color onto my hand. The texture is similar to the Fresh lip balms, but less soft and smooshy. From left to right is papaya, berry, and pomegranate.

Momma said knock you out!

Once I spotted my pug waiting in the background by the fridge (she was hoping a trip to the kitchen meant treats, when really I just went there for the better lighting), I got distracted by my own stupid amusement at playing around in the photos with my pug. Tickle, tickle!

Good lil pug - you deserve a pat on the head. And eventually a treat. Btw, on my nails I'm wearing Essie's meet me at sunset. I love it but my mom hated it and said it looked too orange.

So here's a serious and closer up look at the swatches (remember left to right is papaya, berry and pomegranate).

I am loooving these lip balms. Fancy packaging, beautiful colors, and moisturizing balminess. Sigh, the only thing that would make these better is if they have great staying power. Time and testing will tell. I tried on pomegranate on my lips afterwards and let me tell you this color is even more beautiful on the lips than on my dry gross hand. It's like the color you wish your lips could always be naturally with a slight extra oomph and shine. Perfect! Admittedly, these are really pricey. I'd say try to pick out the color you like best, but I failed at that so it would be hypocritical of me to say so. Ok, now it's time to give my well deserved pug a treat for being such a good sport.